Umbrella plant, umbrella tree, and dwarf schefflera are the houseplant names for Schefflera. Clemson: the umbrella tree is Schefflera actinophylla; dwarf schefflera is Schefflera arboricola. NCSU now files the dwarf plant as Heptapleurum arboricola, formerly Schefflera arboricola, and lists umbrella plant among the common names. Those stay on this URL. There is no separate /how-to-propagate-schefflera page.
UNL also has a row for “Umbrella Plant (Cyperus spp),” a sedge with a different method list. That is not this plant.
Clemson: propagation is by seed, cuttings, and air layering. NCSU’s strategies are seed and stem cutting. Iowa lists dwarf schefflera for stem tips and for air layering. Illinois marks stem, leaf-bud, and air layering. UNL: cuttings of half-ripened stems, and seed. UF/IFAS on S. actinophylla: seeds, cuttings, or layers.
Seed is named. No home sowing steps here.
For mix in a drained pot, see soil propagation. Air layering lives on air layering.
Stem cuttings
Iowa’s stem-tip houseplant page lists Schefflera arboricola (dwarf schefflera) with that list’s general recipe: 3 to 6 inches, at least two nodes, lower leaves off, hormone optional, at least one node in the media. Most houseplant stem cuttings on that page form roots in 3 to 6 weeks. Those numbers are the list page.
UNL: cuttings of half-ripened stems.
Missouri: a herbaceous cutting. High humidity and bright light. Slow rooting.
Illinois lists stem cuttings for schefflera. Their general stem recipe is 3 to 6 inches, two to six nodes.
Clemson and UF name cuttings without a length.
Leaf-bud cuttings
Illinois lists leaf-bud cuttings for schefflera (a leaf blade, the petiole, and a piece of stem that holds a bud). NCSU’s leaf-bud examples include plants in that habit; their schefflera toolbox strategy is still seed and stem cutting. Keep Illinois’s name on the page.
Air layering
Iowa lists Schefflera arboricola for air layering, not simple layering. Schefflera is a woody dicot, so Iowa’s dicot recipe applies: a point 12 to 18 inches from the tip, a ring of bark down to the wood, scrape the cambium, hormone, moist unmilled sphagnum, plastic. Roots in several weeks; some species several months.
Arkansas Extension names schefflera with weeping fig for the tree-like bark girdle, at least one third inch wide. Roots usually after two to four months.
Missouri marks air layer. UF says layers. Clemson names air layering.
Iowa’s several weeks to several months and Arkansas’s two to four months are not one number.
Common mistakes
- Mixing this with Cyperus, UNL’s other “umbrella plant.”
- A monocot slant cut (the corn-plant recipe) on schefflera. Iowa: bark ring for dicots.
- Treating Clemson’s 65 to 75 °F day range as a numbered week-to-root figure. It is culture, not a cutting clock.
- A second URL for schefflera. Same intent, this slug.
People also ask
Umbrella plant or schefflera?
Same URL. Clemson uses both. NCSU lists umbrella plant as a common name for the dwarf species.
Cuttings or air layer?
Clemson names both, plus seed. Iowa lists dwarf schefflera for stem tips and air layering. A leafy 3 to 6 inch piece is a cutting. A tall bare trunk is an air layer.
How long until roots?
Iowa stem-tip list: 3 to 6 weeks for most houseplants on that page. Iowa air layering: several weeks, some species several months. Arkansas air layer: two to four months. Missouri: slow. Those are not one number.